i Develop Stocks Advisory

RIL, Essar mull units in Venezuela Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and the Ruia-owned Essar Oil have submitted proposals to the Venezuelan Government for setting up petrochemicals complex in the oil-rich nation. RIL has also wrapped up a major deal for long-term supply of crude oil for its upcoming Jamnagar refinery. Jamnagar refinery Official sources said that RIL would buy 7.5 million tonnes of crude oil from Venezuela for its upcoming export-oriented refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Interestingly, the Venezuelan Oil Minister, Rafael Ramirez, had recently said that PDVSA had held talks with senior RIL officials and had agreed to supply 1.50 lakh barrels a day of crude oil from June under a long-term contract. Reliance Petroleum CEO, P. M. S. Prasad, was recently in Venezuela to hold talks with PDVSA officials. He reportedly also took up the matter of setting up of a petrochemical complex in that country. A similar proposal is also understood to have been submitted by Essar Oil. Reliance has been sourcing crude oil from Venezuela, the only OPEC member country from Latin America, for its existing 6.60 lakh barrels a day refinery at Jamnagar. It bought 2.32 million tonnes of oil from Venezuela in 2006-07 and 8.76 lakh tonnes in April-December 2007-08. Mr. Ramirez had stated that the oil might be used for its 5.80 lakh barrels a day export-oriented refinery coming up adjacent to the existing plant. Chevron Corp of the U.S. has five per cent stake in Reliance Petroleum, a unit of Reliance Industries, which is building the over $6 billion refinery. Hub The new RIL refinery, that will make Jamnagar the largest refining hub in the world, is likely to be completed ahead of its original December 2008 deadline. At present, the U.S. is the highest crude oil buyer from Venezuela but is working to diversify its oil basket resulting in huge opportunity to India and its companies.